


70s Fashion

by FlygonAltaria



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Homophobia, M/M, Slow Burn, ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-12 15:27:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19231894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlygonAltaria/pseuds/FlygonAltaria
Summary: Omega65 Asked : I have a hardenshipping au idea! What if Maxie was an independent, well known fashion designer in the 70's, and Archie was starting out his career as a model; looking for ways to gain fame and attention. Eventually, (somehow) Maxie finally meets Archie after various interviews and tryouts of his new male clothing line on other male models, until he settles on Archie, seeing his potential. After some time they get to know each other, they start to grow closer. Please and thank you so much!!





	70s Fashion

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I may have gone a bit too far because this thing is almost 9000 words long, which is like, four times my average O_O
> 
>  
> 
> Anyways, I tried my best, but I don’t know much about fashion or the 70s, so I added some homophobic parents and buses… lots of buses for some reason. Also at some point I forgot Hoenn was a tropical region and I made it snow…. I have no idea how I forgot that.
> 
>  
> 
> I hope this is at least slightly what you wanted <3

“No no no! They’re all wrong!”

Tabitha sighed. They had been over this four times already, and yet Maxie continued to be difficult. “You’ve got to pick one, sir. The show is in a few months and you can’t start making the outfits until you have a model.”

“None of these men work, Tabitha!” Maxie yelled, swiping a bunch of notes and fabric off of one of the work desks in their small studio to underline his point. “They all look too… I don’t know! But they’re not what I want!”

Tabitha sighed again and rubbed his eyes. He felt a headache coming on. “Maxie, please.”

“No. Absolutely not,” Maxie continued. “We should hold auditions, that’s what we should do. Forget about these ‘professionals’, get some new people!”

That… actually wasn’t that bad of an idea, Tabitha thought. Some random person would probably be much cheaper than professional models. But they would have to be trained….

“Tabitha, you go sort that out. We can hold the audition next Saturday, after I’m done the last outfit for Courtney.”

And just like that Maxie was back at his desk furiously scribbling away in his sketchbook. Tabitha knew that Maxie could do great things and would be a huge person in the fashion industry some day, but Arceus, whoever got stuck working with him would have their work cut out for them.

—————

Maxie was waiting at the bus stop, nervously looking up at the sky and shifting his weight in agitation. It looked like it would start raining any minute, and he was holding months worth of notes. If the bus didn’t get here soon….

Maxie felt a presence behind him and glanced over his shoulder. Not many people used this buss stop.

Behind his was a dark skinned man with a goofy smile on his face. They made eye contact, and Maxie immediately turned away.

‘Please don’t take that as an invitation to talk to me, I don’t want to talk to a stranger right now….’

“Hey, what’s your name?”

Well, there goes that hope.

The man had stepped beside him so they could talk, and Maxie realized that the man was pretty tall.

“Who are you?” Maxie asked.

“Ohhh, secretive, huh? I like that. I’m Archie. What’s with all the paper?”

Maxie glanced up at the sky again, then down the street where the bus should be coming already. Nothing.

“It’s work,” Maxie stated. Where was that bus?

“What do you do?” Archie leaned over to try to get a look, but Maxie pulled his work closer towards himself. He hated letting people see his work before it was released.

“Oh hey, the bus!”

That got Maxie’s attention. Coming down the street was the city bus. Which was perfect timing, because Maxie felt the first drop of rain fall on his hand.

Archie was waving at the bus, as though the bus driver didn’t see them. Had this man never used a bus before? Maxie thought in irritation. He had known this man for two minutes, and already he was loosing patience. Maxie wasn’t the most patient person in the world, but even he normally lasted a bit longer than that.

When the bus stopped, Maxie got in first and chose a seat near the back. As usual, the bus was practically empty. There was an old lady at the front, a drunk, passed out man in the middle, a student between them…. and Archie, who was walking straight to the back, towards Maxie. Great….

Archie sat in the row opposite of Maxie, with his legs in the aisle. “So, what do you do for work?”

The bus took off.

“I’m a designer,” Maxie said, pulling his notes close again. Why was this man so determined?

“Cool! What do you design?”

Maxie sighed irritably. He hated talking to strangers, he hated telling people about his job, and he absolutely hated people who wouldn’t leave him alone!

“Woah, you look angry,” Archie said. Maxie glared at him. “Do you not like your job or something?”

“Wha- how could you - No! No I absolutely do NOT hate my job! I absolutely LOVE my job, and I work my butt off every day just to stay relevant! How dare you assume-“

“Woah woah, calm down. I didn’t mean to make you upset, jeez,” Archie said, but he was holding back a laugh behind that big, stupid smile, and that just made Maxie angrier.

“Oh, hey, this is my stop,” Archie said as the bus slowed down.

Maxie sat back and huffed. In just a few minutes this man has made him furious. That was a new record. There was something about him that was just so infuriating.

Archie got to the front of the bus and stoped to look back. “Bye, Red!” He called, giving Maxie a huge wave. Maxie groaned and smacked his head against the seat in front of him as Archie left.

Well, at least he’d never have to see that man again. That thought calmed him down.

————

“Well, thank you for coming. We’ll contact you soon if you get the position,” Tabitha said with a warm smile. The man that had just auditioned smiled and thanked them before leaving.

“He was nice,” Tabitha stated as he attached the photo of the man to their notes.

“Not what I’m looking for,” Maxie replied. He was barely taking any notes at this point. He knew what he wanted, and none of these people were that.

“Maxie, you’ve got to pick someone,” Tabitha said. “You can’t just wait for the perfect guy to come walking in. You have to get this line finished in a few months!”

“I know, Tabitha!” Maxie snapped. It wasn’t his fault that all these people had the same body type. They were all too… average. Definitely not the big, buff, hero type that Maxie needed for this line. He really should have looked for a model earlier….

“Okay, Maxie, look. There are six more guys out there waiting to audition. You’ve got to pick either one of the ones we see today, or one of the ones that sent in their applications. Just… try to have an open mind, okay?”

“I liked the last guy,” Courtney said. Maxie had almost forgotten that she was in the room. She was sat in a corner, wearing one of the outfits that Maxie had made for this line. The male model had to complement her, after all. It didn’t matter how perfect he was if he didn’t look good beside her.

Maxie sighed. “Let the next guy in.” He started doodling in the notebook that Tabitha had given him to take notes on the models. Was it even worth seeing the next few? He should just pick one and get it over with. Maybe he could redesign some of the outfits to work.

The door opened, and Maxie heard Tabitha talking to the next model. The man laughed at something Tabitha said, and Maxie looked up, recognizing the voice.

“Hey, Red! I didn’t know you worked here!”

It was Archie.

Maxie groaned and smacked his head against the table. He didn’t even bother looking back up. Maybe if he just stayed like this the universe would take pity on him and just end it all.

Of all the people….

“Oh, you know each other?” Tabitha asked.

“No!”

“Yeah, we took the same bus yesterday. What are the odds!”

Maxie shifted his head to glare at Tabitha, who had a funny grin on his face. Maxie supposed that he had put Tabitha through some rough times these past few days, so seeing Maxie suffer a bit was enjoyable to him.

“So if you would just come this way, we’ll take a photo and some information to attach to our notes,” Tabitha said, motioning towards the camera.

Maxie finally decided to sit up straight and take a stretch. His shoulders hurt, his legs were asleep, and his tea was cold. Could this day get any worse?

He heard Tabitha and Archie chatting, and decided to turn towards Courtney. “Would you mind getting me some tea, Courtney?” Maxie asked.

“Sure,” Courtney said, getting up and fluffing her dress out a little. “Do you guys want anything?” Courtney called.

“Could I get a refill, please?” Tabitha asked.

“Ohh, can I have a coffee? I was waiting out in that room for like, an hour. I could really use one,” Archie said, shooting Courtney a huge smile.

Maxie rolled his eyes, but caught the blush on her cheeks before she left.

“Maxie will give you a form to fill out while I print this picture,” Tabitha said.

“Oh, so you’re ‘Maxie’ then?” Archie asked as he sauntered over to the desk. “Well, nice to officially meet you, Maxie. I’m Archie, as you know.”

Maxie rolled his eyes and passed the form over. “You’ve got an awful lot of confidence,” Maxie pointed out. “It almost comes off as arrogant.”

Archie laughed, brushing off the insult. “You should always be confident in what you do! Even if you’re not the best, if you give it your all you’ve got nothing to be ashamed of. And that’s how I like to live!”

That was actually good advice, but coming from Archie it just made Maxie more irritated. How much longer until this guy was gone? He’s been doing these auditions all day, he should know how long they take. But it was like Archie managed to sweep all his metaphorical papers off of the desk that is Maxie’s mind when he’s around.

“There, all done,” Archie said with a smile as he passed the form back to Maxie. He gave it a quick look to make sure nothing was missing before he put it back down.

“Great, thank you.”

“So, uh… now what?” Archie asked. Was there a bit of indecisiveness in there?

“Have you never auditioned before?” Maxie asked, teasing him. Of course they would tell him what to do, but if he could spend a few minutes making Archie feel like he should already be doing something, well… that would make today far more enjoyable.

“Not for a model, no. I’m an actor,” Archie admitted.

“Actor?” Maxie asked. Well, he did seem like a ‘theatre kid’, to be honest.

“Why are you applying to be a model, then?”

“Oh, you know,” Archie waved his hand around. Maxie did not know, but before he could cut in with the sarcastic remark Archie continued. “There ain’t much auditions for actors after the contest hall burnt down last month, so a guy had so make do. Besides, this sounded like fun, and it would be something cool to put on my resume.”

Maxie frowned. “You do know that this job would be a several month contract. You couldn’t just quit if a better opportunity came around.”

“Of course not,” Archie looked offended. “When I commit to something, I commit. I don’t care what it is.”

“Okay, we’re all ready, Archie,” Tabitha said as Courtney walked in and handed everyone their drinks.

“Oh, thank you,” Archie said with a small bow to her. “It’s absolutely perfect!”

Maxie rolled his eyes, but Courtney gave a cute giggle, which was shocking for the normally stoic girl.

“Great, let’s begin,” Tabitha announced with a clap of his hands.

————

“Thank you, Archie. We will contact you in a few days if you get the part,” Tabitha said.

“Thanks! Either was, this was pretty fun,” Archie said, giving Courtney an overdramatic kiss on the hand.

“Urgh,” Maxie said as he tossed his notes towards Tabitha.

“What do you mean?” Tabitha whispered to him. “He’s exactly what you wanted, isn’t he!?”

“An arrogant, overdramatic idiot?” Maxie whispered back. “Why would I ever want that?”

Tabitha rubbed at his eyes and sighed. “Who cares about his personality, it’s his body that’s important. Look at him!”

Maxie felt his face flush but quickly regained composer. He had completely forgotten what he was supposed to be looking for.

Archie was giving his goodbyes to Courtney. He was much taller than her, which was a must. Dark skinned, muscular…

Maxie felt his heart drop as he realized Tabitha was right. Archie was perfect. ‘For this modelling job!’ Maxie quickly corrected himself. Perfect for this job.

Perfect, and somehow knew how to push all of Maxie’s buttons. He honestly wasn’t sure that they could make it through the next few months if they hired him though. One of them was sure to kill the other. Most likely Maxie killing Archie.

But no one else had come close to the look that Maxie needed.

“There are still five more, right? Let’s get through them before we make any decisions.”

Maxie tried really hard to find positives in the rest of the guys, but none of them held a candle to Archie.

Maxie groaned and pushed his fingers through his hair when the last man left.

“So?” Tabitha asked.

Maxie sighed and closed his eyes. This was a huge mistake.

“Archie it is, then,” Tabitha said.

————

“What’s this do?”

“I said don’t move!”

“Sorry,”

Maxie sighed and readjusted his glasses. It’s been less than a day, and Archie had somehow made him angry enough to go out for two smoke breaks. Which was saying something, since he was trying to quit and was down to one a week before today.

This man would literally be the death of him.

“Is it that hard to stand still?” Maxie asked. “Is that not something you have to do in your plays?”

“It’s different in plays,” Archie countered as he got back into position and Maxie started measuring again. Archie was a bit nervous of all the pins Maxie had shoved in his mouth, but didn’t say anything about them, instead going with “I’m not me in those plays. But I’m me here, so yeah. Pretty hard to stay still.”

“Then don’t be you,” Maxie said with surprising clarity despite having a dozen or so pins held between his teeth. “Hold this.”

Archie grabbed it and awkwardly held the fabric in the exact spot it was when it was handed to him. He had really only known Maxie a day, but he could tell how passionate he was about this fashion stuff, so he didn’t want to do anything to mess it up. “Oh, come on, you like me,” Archie teased.

“I really don’t,” Maxie countered, pinning some fabric behind Archie’s back. “Pass that to me.”

Archie passed him the fabric. “What are you doing?”

“My job,” Maxie replied. “Which is much easier to do in silence, I might add.”

“That’s no fun!” Archie shot back. “Time goes by much faster when you’re having a conversation!”

“Well, lucky for me I’m short on time, and therefore if your hypothesis is true, we should remain silent,” Maxie said, reaching toward his desk to write down some notes.

“Jeez man. You sound like a scientist when you talk like that,” Archie said.

“Yes, well, I was originally going to be a geologist,” Maxie said as he pulled some fabric tighter and pinned it at Archie’s side.

“Really? What made you switch?” Archie asked. At least they were getting somewhere. It would suck to spend months with a guy who doesn’t want to talk to you.

“My family wanted me to be a geologist. I wanted to be a fashion designer,” Maxie said. We was back to Archie’s front, eyes quickly shifting all over as he calculated where to put the next pin.

“Yeah, it sucks when your family pressures you,” Archie agreed.

Maxie looked up at him for a split second before going back to work. “What were you supposed to be?”

“My whole family are sailors,” Archie said. That was somewhat surprising, and yet Maxie could absolutely see Archie on a dock pulling a boat in. “We own a small shipping company, and I was supposed to take over the family boat. It’s the biggest one we have, and it’s been passed down for generations.”  
“How long does a boat usually last?” Maxie asked. He couldn’t imagine that a wooden vessel constantly sitting in water could last for generations.

“We fix things as they break, so as long as you do that they last a long time,” Archie said. He stretched his arm up as Maxie tapped it and pointed up. A pin connected fabric under his arm, then Maxie allowed him to put it down again.

“If you keep fixing it, though, is it the same ship in the end?” Maxie asked as he went to get more pins.

“What do ya mean?” Archie asked.

Maxie grabbed a new roll of fabric and some scissors, and shuffled back toward Archie. “Like, if I were to replace the handle of my broom, and a few years later I replace the brush part of my broom, is it the same broom? Because all the pieces have been swapped, so would it not technically be a different broom?”

“Huh,” Archie said. “Never thought of that.”

————

“Achuuuuu!”

“Could you stop!?”

“Sorry?” Archie sniffed.

“Honestly, what kind of idiot goes ice skating on a lake this time of year,” Maxie said as he drew on the fabric where he would cut. Sometimes he would just cut as he went, but not when any second could result in a sneeze.

“When I was a kid the rivers were always frozen through at this time! We used to play hockey after school every day!” Archie complained. He sniffed again. He looked absolutely miserable.

“Yes, well, you’re not a kid anymore. And it’s been an exceptionally warm autumn. You should have known.”

Archie coughed, and Maxie dropped the fabric and walked off in exasperation. “This is ridiculous. Why did you even come in today?”

“You said I can’t miss a day unless someone was literally dying,” Archie pointed out. “And that person had to be me.”

Maxie leaned against a pile of fabric and held his head in his hands. “We can’t get any work done like this,” He stated as Archie began a coughing fit.

This one was longer than usual, so Maxie decided to bring him his coffee and started removing the half done outfit. “I’m fine, really. Just need a drink and I’ll be fine,” Archie tried to convince himself.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Archie. You’re taking a break,” Maxie finished removing the outfit and pushed him lightly towards the sofa. Maxie had used it to sleep overnight in his studio many nights, so it was one of the most comfortable ones he could afford at the time.

Archie sank into it with a content sigh and sipped his coffee. “I could really go for a nap,” he said, shifting himself so he was lying down. “Wake me when you’re ready to go again.”

Before Maxie could even reply, he was asleep, mouth open and gasping for breath as his nose was blocked. Maxie sighed and got the spare blanket he kept in the closet, and threw it on Archie. He only ever wore boxers and a tank top during work, and he didn’t even bother getting back into his clothes before passing out.

Maxie looked outside. It was really snowing hard now. He went to the fire place and threw in another log to keep it warm.

While he waited for Archie to wake up he might as well get some work done. He pulled out his sketchbook and started drawing some new ideas. But they all sucked. Creativity would not come.

Maxie sighed and glanced at Archie. Well, when all else fails, draw what you see, he thought.

———

“Hey, wanna go out for dinner?” Archie asked in his normal, upbeat voice.

“What?” Maxie asked, feeling his face heat up.

“Some friends and I are going to that new restaurant for dinner tonight, and I was wondering if you wanted to come,” Archie said.

“Oh! Oh, um, I’m not sure,” Maxie replied, getting back to work. “I don’t know them, and…. Well, I guess that’s it.”

Archie laughed, a laugh that always made Maxie smile for some reason. “Oh, c’mon Max! The entire time I’ve known you you’ve only talked about two people - and you work with them! Do you even have friends?”

Maxie’s face flushed, but this time in embarrassment. “What? Of course I do!”

“Name one,” Archie countered.

“Richard!”

“… Richard?”

“Yes,” Maxie said, ‘accidentally’ poking Archie with a pin, which made him jump.

“What does ‘Richard’ do?” Archie said in a I totally know you’re lying but I’m going to humour you tone of voice.

“He’s a… one of those guys who sells tickets at the theatre,” Maxie said. That’s stupid, why was that the first thing to come in his mind?

“Oh, really? At what theatre?”

Fffffffffuu-

“C’mon Max. It won’t kill you to go out for one night. Besides, didn’t you say we were ahead of schedule? Celebrate!”

Maxie sighed. “What time?”

————

“So, what made you move here, Maxie?”

Maxie wanted to disappear. He had thought Archie would have a bunch of friends, and that he could just kinda let them talk amongst themselves without talking much himself. But turns out by “friends” he meant two. A married couple.

“I had some, uh…. family problems,” Maxie said, hoping that would be enough.

“Hey man, no need to tell me about family problems!” The man, Mat, said. “My family’s great, but Shelly’s? Wooooh! They need help!”

“Yeah,” Shelly said in irritation. “Our whole family had to move because the church found out my sister was gay.”

Maxie tried his best to hide his cringe. Were these really the people Archie associated with? Did he think the same way they did?

“Eh, she shoulda joined the navy!” Archie said. “Loads of gays there.”

“Yeah,” Mat added. “They don’t care what you are out at sea.”

“My family’s religious,” Shelly said. “Doesn’t matter where you are, it’s still wrong.”

“Hey, so how are you guys liking Lilycove?” Archie cut in.

“Oh, it’s beautiful!” Shelly said, and Mat nodded along. “The beach at night? Nothing more romantic than that!”

Maxie felt some of his tension leave. At least the topic was shifted now. But he still wanted to get out of there as soon as possible.

—————

“Bye Archie! It was nice meeting you Maxie!”

Maxie gave a little wave, which was dwarfed beside Archie’s full arm wave. “See you guys later!”

Maxie turned and started walking towards the bus stop. Archie ran to catch up a moment latter.

“The food there was pretty good! Still not as good as the place on the other side of town, but that’s a long bus ride. Hey, you okay?”

“Great,” said Maxie, maybe a bit too harshly.

“Maxie? Hey, c’mon, what did I do this time?” This wasn’t the first time Maxie had gotten angry. Archie wasn’t the most perceptive of people though, so he rarely noticed until after the fact that he was angry.

“Nothing,” Maxie said less harshly. Technically he didn’t do anything. It was his homophobic friend that had made him feel horrible. They said people were more accepting on the east coast, but Maxie knew that there would always be people like her. He was almost getting used to not hearing anything homophobic, so it was about time, Maxie thought with irritation.

And the worst part was that she seemed nice other than that. Maxie could have seen himself being friends with her if she wasn’t….

Or if he wasn’t gay. That would solve a lot of problems.

“C’mon, I had to have done something. You never get upset for no reason.”

They reached the bus stop, and Maxie leaned against the post as he waited. What time was it anyway? He didn’t want to wait long.

“Maxie? C’mon, tell me. Pleeeaaassseee?”

Maxie was grinding his teeth so hard that he was sure he was causing lasting damage. But he couldn’t bring himself to care.

The buss going the opposite way stopped across the street. Maxie knew that the bus station wasn’t far, and that the bus would turn around once it reached the station. He somehow felt better knowing it would only be twenty minutes or so.

“Max?”

“Stop!” Maxie shouted. People passing looked their way, but kept going.

“….. Did I do something?” The question was softer this time, lacking Archie’s usual energy. Maxie realized that despite how many fights they had had, he’d never actually snapped at Archie before.

That was a sobering thought.

“I don’t want to talk about it, Archie.” Maxie half expected Archie to continue to try to get the information out of him, but he didn’t. He just silently stood beside Maxie, waiting for the bus.

A whole two minutes of silence passed before Maxie pulled out a cigarette. Forget quitting, today he was having as much as he wanted.

His hands shook as he tried to light it, and he went through three matches before he gave up. He pulled the cigarette out of his mouth with a sigh and stared up at the sky. It had no right showing off such a beautiful sunset when Maxie was feeling horrible.

“Are you okay?”

Maxie glanced over at Archie. He had almost forgotten that he was still there. Maxie rubbed his hands over his face, trying to release some of the tension there. “I’m fine.”

Archie went to say something more, but thought better of it.

Another few minutes passed.

“I’m sorry for snapping at you.” Maxie could see Archie turn to look at him through the corner of his eye, but he refused to look at the man. “It’s not your problem, it’s mine. And I should have my emotions under control by now.”

“You don’t need to apologize,” Archie said. “And like, if you want to talk about it - or not! Like, I’m not trying to pressure you or anything, so if you don’t want me to know then that’s fine too. But like, if you do want to talk about it, I’m here for you.”

“Hah,” Maxie tried to light his cigarette again, and this time his hands were steady enough.

“Hey Max?”

“Hmm?”

“So uh,” Archie was fidgeting his hands, which was actually kinda cute. “I don’t know what I did, and I don’t wanna pressure you, and like, you don’t have to tell me, like I said. But, uh… could you let me know what I did to set you off so I don’t do it again? Like, you don’t have to! If that crosses some line or something then whatever, I won’t bother you about it. I just don’t want to do whatever I did again -“

“Shut up,” Maxie said. His tone was playful, which helped lighten the moment. “Besides, it wasn’t anything you did or said. You just happened to be pestering me when I wanted - needed - time to cool off.”

“Oh!” Archie said. “Oh, that’s good. ‘Cause no offence Max, but you’re scary when you’re angry.”

Maxie laughed, which was something he hardly did. He had noticed that he started to do that when Archie was around.

“You think I’m bad, you shoulda met my dad. He was like an actual volcano.”

They both laughed at that one. “Hey, you never mention your family. Is everything okay with them?”

Well, that ruined the moment. Maxie’s family was… honestly horrible. They were super religious, like everyone out west. Everything was fine and perfect…. Until Maxie realized he was gay. And when his family learnt?

His father was furious. Basically any time he would lay eyes on Maxie he would get beaten. His siblings ignored him, as though associating with him would somehow bring their father’s rage upon them as well.

And his mother. Constantly yelling at him and crying, wondering what she did wrong for him to end up like this.

He went to church once after it got out. Everyone was staring at him and whispering, and he swears the priest chose the sermon just to hurt him personally.

Maxie had tried so hard. His family were geologists, so he got a job and saved up for school. He got his degree, and came back, hoping that that would be enough for them to see how wrong they were.

Turns out he was the one who was wrong. They didn’t care about that. They didn’t even want him to have the family name. So, Maxie moved out east and started designing fashion. Something he had wanted to do his whole life. Something to make him happy.

And he was. Those few years he had spent here, making a name for himself, building his company, those were great years. He had almost forgotten about his family.

Until now.

“Max?”

Maxie snapped out of his thoughts. He heard the bus coming, and put out his cigarette. His dad smoked….

That would be Maxie’s last one, he thought. He pulled out the pack the tossed them into the bin as the bus stopped, “Let’s go,” he said, and Archie followed behind him.

————

“Hey, Max!”

Maxie groaned, and flipped over in bed.

Knock knock!

“Maxie!”

Well, he was up now. And probably half of his neighbours, too.

The knocking continued as Maxie got out of bed and into a robe and slippers before opening the door to his flat. He regretted ever giving that man his address.

“What the hell Archie? It’s Saturday, let me sleep in.”

Archie walked past Maxie like he owned the place and started the kettle for coffee and tea. “Not today, friendo!”

“Friendo?” Maxie asked as he closed the door and shuffled to the counter. He didn’t have his glasses on, so he was just watching a shape walk around his kitchen opening and closing cupboards and drawers.

“Don’t you know what today is?”

“Saturday,” Maxie said in the most deadpan voice he could muster. “Our day off. A day to sleep in.”

Maxie heard Archie crack some eggs into a pan and decided he’d like to see what Archie was up to, so he shuffled back to his room to get his glasses.

By the time he got back Archie was just placing two plates with delicious looking omelettes on them onto the counter. Beside the plates were two steaming mugs.

Maxie sat down and grabbed a fork. “Okay, you’re buttering me up for something. What is it? Do you need a day off or something?”  
“What? No!” Archie said as he put the frying pan into the sink and came to sit down. “But out of curiosity would you have given it to me?”

“Mmm, maybe,” Maxie said through a mouthful of eggs. “In exchange for breakfast every Monday. Where did you learn to cook?”

“Used to help my mom,” Archie said after swallowing a huge mouthful. “Speaking of families-“

Maxie shot a glare at Archie. He hadn’t told Archie anything, but they had always avoided the subject after that day.

“Hey, just hear me out, okay? I know that you’re not all that close with your family-“

“Understatement,” Maxie cut in.

“But you know, today is father’s day and my father’s coming to town and I thought you could join us,” Archie finished in a rush.

…

“Why would I want to do that?” Maxie asked.

“Well, since you aren’t going to see your dad today,” Archie said.

“I don’t want to see my dad,” Maxie said, stabbing his fork a little too strongly into his eggs.

Archie sighed. “Okay look, when I left home things were a little rocky. I haven’t seen my dad in person since then, and… I could really use a friend.”

“Oh,” Maxie said. He really wasn’t expecting that.

Was it weird to go with Archie? He’d have to spend the whole day with them. And if today turned out like that day at the restaurant….

“I don’t know, Archie…”

“Pleeeeaaaassseeeee?” Archie gave that puppy dog face that he knew worked so well on Maxie. “I’ll owe you one!”

Maxie sighed. Well, it wasn’t like he had anything else planned today. “Where would we be going?”

———

“Hey dad!”

“Archie!” Archie’s father was a big man, which was saying something since Archie was pretty big himself. In height he was an inch or so taller, and if Archie looked like he worked out this man looked like he lived in a gym.

Archie’s father picked him up in a huge hug. “Are you eating okay, son? Doing enough hard work?”

Archie laughed. “I’m eating fine. How’s mom?”

“She’s great, and sends her regards.”

That was the moment that Archie suddenly remembered Maxie existed and dragged his father towards him. “Dad, this is Maxie! He’s the designer that I told you about.”

“Well, nice to meet you Maxie!” Archie’s father grabbed his hand in a strong handshake.

“Nice to meet you too,” Maxie said at his most professional. “You’ve raised a wonderful son.”

“Haha, that I have!” he said, throwing an arm over Maxie’s shoulder. “But he ain’t perfect, you know. Has he told you about the time that he -“

“Okay dad! I’m sure Maxie doesn’t wanna hear about any of that!” Archie cut in grabbing his dad by the arm and pulling him away.

“Oh, quite the contrary,” Maxie said with a smirk. “I would love to hear all the embarrassing stories from your youth.”

Archie’s face flushed for the first time that Maxie could recall, and his father laughed. Maybe today wouldn’t be so bad after all.

————

“Are you sure you have to leave tonight? There’s loads more I haven’t shown you,” Archie said as he gave his dad a goodbye hug.

“Eh, you know I can’t delay this shipment. But mark my words, I’ll be back. And you had better show me that chilli place next time! I’ve heard great things!”

Maxie smiled as he watched them say their goodbyes from the end of the dock. The day had gone wonderfully, and Maxie wished he could have more days like that. Archie turned out to be a lot of fun when he had a whole day to plan for. And his father was great, too.

Maxie’s smile faltered for a second as he thought about his dad.

Nope. He wasn’t about to let that man ruin a wonderful day.

Archie came back after seeing his dad off. “That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be!” Archie said.

They started walking back towards town. “No, it was quite pleasant. I guess you didn’t need me after all,” Maxie said.

“But it was way more fun with you there,” Archie said with a smile. “Even if my dad kept trying to tell you embarrassing stories about me.”

Maxie laughed. “Did you really try to grab a carvanha by the tail!?”

“Yeah, it really showed me!” Archie laughed. “Still got the scar to prove it! You gotta be looking for it though, here.”

Archie stopped and pointed to a spot on his face right between his eyes. Sure enough, Maxie saw a small, x shaped scar. “Woah. You’re pretty lucky. That could have been your eye,” Maxie said.

“Nah, my eyes are too beautiful, the universe would never allow that!” Archie laughed, but it made Maxie look at his eyes closer than he normally would.

They were a deep blue like the ocean. The bluest blue he’d ever seen in someone’s eyes before. They were… really pretty. Not that it mattered. Why should he care?

Maxie laughed along. “Don’t tempt the universe, Archie.”

————

It was a week until the show. A week until the deadline. One more week.

Maxie was freaking out. This was his first time in one of these shows, and this could very well make or break his career. And he only had one week to finish this last outfit.

“Calm down, Max,” Archie said as Maxie pocked him with a needle for the hundredth time that day.

“I can’t calm down! The show’s in a week, Archie!”

“You’re pretty much done. I’ve seen you finish a project this big in a single day before. You’ll be fine,” Archie said, trying to comfort the crazed fashion designer.

“It can’t just be fine, it has to be brilliant! Amazing! Extraordinary!”

Another stab.

“Okay, enough,” Archie said as he grabbed Maxie’s wrist.

“What are you doing? It’s not done yet!”

“No, but you are,” Archie said as he dragged Maxie to the couch.

“I absolutely am not! Let go of me!”

“Nope,” Archie said as he flopped down onto the sofa, pulling Maxie down to sit beside him. Archie grabbed a book and awkwardly opened it with one hand, then flipped to the page he had stopped at last time, all without letting go of Maxie’s wrist.

It took Maxie a moment to realize that Archie was, in fact, not going to let him go. He tried to pull away, but no matter what he did he couldn’t overpower Archie. “This is ridiculous! Let me go!”

“You’re too stressed, you can’t work like that. You’ll end up making mistakes.”

Archie wasn’t wrong, but with only a week left Maxie didn’t have the time to spare.

“Archie!”

Archie groaned and closed his book. He couldn’t read with all this noise. “How about dinner? When was the last time you ate?”

Maxie thought about it, but before he could remember Archie cut him off, pointing out that if it took him that long to think about it, it was too long ago.

“I am not going out like this,” Maxie stated. His hair was a mess, his clothes wrinkly and with a few tea stains. It almost looked like he hadn’t slept in days. Or gone home.

“Do you even have food at your house? Fresh food?”

“I don’t- no, probably not. I’ve been busy,” Maxie said defensively.

“Okay then, my house it is,” Archie said, finally letting go of Maxie’s wrist. “I live just down the street, so we can walk if you want.”

“What ar- but we have to finish!”

“Maxie, c’mon. You’ll feel better after you eat and sleep.”

Maxie couldn’t counter that.

————

Maxie was half asleep on the couch when Archie placed a plate full of food on the coffee table in front of him. “Oh, thank you,” he said, giving himself a stretch before grabbing the fork.

“No problem,” Archie said and sat next to him. He put a bottle of wine on the table, and poured them each a glass.

“Wine, really? Are we on a date or something?” Maxie asked sarcastically. Of course, that just put the idea of a real date with Archie in his head, and he quickly had to erase that.

“I always have wine with dinner,” Archie said. “My mom used to say it was healthy to have a glass a day.”

“Well, I’m not complaining,” Maxie said after he had taken a sip. “This is quite nice. Better than anything we ever got out west.”

Once they were done their dinner, they continued to chat and drink for hours. The sun slowly set, and eventually Maxie noticed the time.

“I should probably go now, before the last bus goes by,” Maxie said without even attempting to get up. He was super comfy leaning against the couch and chatting with Archie.

“Nah man, stay here tonight. Who knows what kind of weirdos take the last bus of the night,” Archie pointed out as he refilled Maxie’s glass.

“True,” Maxie agreed. “It would be absolutely horrible if I were to be killed the week before the show. All that work would be for nothing.”

Archie laughed, which brought a smile to Maxie’s face. “Well, at least you got to know me!” Archie teased.

“And I wouldn’t change that for the world,” Maxie agreed.

“Awwww, that’s cute,” Archie said, leaning closer to Maxie and batting his eyelashes.

“Hmmm. Tell anyone I said that and I’ll kill you,” Maxie countered and finished off his glass.

“You wouldn’t do that to me,” Archie said with a laugh. “You’d miss me too much!”

“Maybe,” Maxie agreed.

They were both laughing now. Archie laughed a little too hard and spilled some of his wine on Maxie’s pants.

“Oh man! Sorry, I guess I was leaning too far forward,” he said as he looked around for something to wipe it up with.

“Don’t even worry about it,” Maxie said, and waved his hand in dismissal. “This entire outfit needs to be thrown out when this week is over. One extra stain isn’t important. Now, if this was the show outfit….”

Archie laughed again. “Yeah, you’d probably kill me for real then.”

A few minutes passed where Maxie just stared off into space. When Archie asked him what he was thinking about, he could honestly say “I don’t know.”

“I think,” Maxie started, then lost his train of thought.

“What do you think?” Archie asked.

Maxie looked into those far too blue eyes and felt himself melt away. “I think… I’m drunk. And you should let me sleep in in the morning, or you’ll have to deal with a very tired, hungover Maxie.”

Archie laughed at that. “Okay, fair enough. I’ll get you a blanket,” Archie said as he got up and headed into another room.

Maxie lied down and closed his eyes, listening to the sounds of the city outside. He was almost asleep when Archie came back.

“C’mon, get up. You need a pillow or you’re gonna have a sore neck tomorrow.” He was right of course, but Maxie still groaned as he forced himself into a sitting position.

The blanket Archie gave him was soft, and Maxie was curled up and ready for sleep before Archie was done turning off the lamps.

“Hey, Max?”

“Hmmm?”

“How drunk are you? Like, are you gonna remember that I spilled wine on you in the morning?”

“You spilled wine on me?” Maxie asked. Oh yeah, he remembered now. He was too tired to care, though.

“Maxie?”

“Hmmm?”

Maxie felt a hand on his face, so he opened his eyes. The moon was bright out, so Maxie could see every feature on Archie’s concerned face. “I’m fine,” Maxie said, even though Archie hadn’t asked.

He was staring. He knew he was. But Archie was staring right back, and Maxie couldn’t bring himself to care that he would have probably looked away had he been awake and sober.

Then, Archie leaned down and brushed his lips against Maxie’s. That snapped him out of his half-asleep, tipsy state. His hand shot out and grabbed Archie’s arm. “Archie?”

And Archie leaned down and kissed him. Maxie’s head was spinning, his heart was racing, but he was kissing back. Archie was kissing him, and he was kissing back.

He had pushed this thought from his head countless times, as though refusing to imagine this it would somehow make it easier to pretend he had no feelings for Archie. And it was working, but now?

Maxie knew he could never go back now.

Archie pulled away with an awkward cough. “Well, uh, goodnight,” he said, and walked away to his room.

Maxie stared at the ceiling in shock. “What just happened?” He lightly traced his lips with his hand. He didn’t have much time to think about it as he quickly fell asleep, but the butterflies in his stomach stayed even in his dreams.

————

Maxie woke to the smell of tomatoes and the sound of chopping. The sun was already high in the sky as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

Then Maxie remembered where he was, and what happened last night. Did it happen, though? Or was it Maxie’s imagination and subconscious mixing with his tipsy, sleep deprived brain?

Maxie got up and folded the blanket before heading towards the kitchen. His mind was furiously sorting things he remembered, determining what was real and what was dreamt.

“Good morning,” Maxie said with a yawn.

“Good morning!” Archie said, but only gave Maxie a glance.

Oh, so it was real. Was that going to make things awkward now? There was less than a week until the show, Maxie couldn’t have his model acting weird, or worse, quitting.

Maxie shook that thought from his head. That was a load of bull. Maxie didn’t want to loose Archie, period. As a model, as a friends, or as… something else. So he decided to dive right in.

“So, that kiss last night?” Maxie started. Archie instantly froze. There was an awkward silence. Maxie half expected Archie to deny it, or to turn around and laugh it off. Not silence, though. That was so unlike him.

“What was all that about?” Maxie asked.

Archie slowly put the knife down and grabbed the counter, but still didn’t say anything.

“Archie?”

Nothing.

Maxie got up and walked to his side, but Archie turned his head to avoid eye contact.

“Come on, you can’t just pretend I’m not here. What are you, a child?”

“No, I just…”

“There we go! Words! Isn’t that better?” Maxie teased, then instantly regretted it. That was so lame, why did he say that? Why was he so bad with these types of situations? “Sorry, that was stupid.”

“No, I was,” Archie said. “Look, I’m sorry. I thought you were drunk and wouldn’t remember, and I know that that’s not okay anyway, and I should never have done that, and you are probably super mad at me and that’s fine! That’s absolutely okay, because I deserve it! I just, I don’t even know what came over me. You’re such a good friend and I really don’t want to loose that just because I was stupid. I mean, just because I like you doesn’t mean we can’t be friends, right? I’ll get over it eventually. We could just pretend that never happened-”

Archie kept going, but Maxie didn’t hear him.

Did Archie just admit to liking him? But that didn’t make sense, Archie wasn’t gay. He couldn’t be. In the few months they had known each other he had probably pointed out a hundred “hot” girls to him.

And yet Archie was still rambling. He should… probably stop him.

Maxie grabbed Archie’s arm. “Archie.”

Archie kept going, slightly louder now, as though he was afraid of what Maxie would say.

“Archie. Archie. Hey, stop that. Archie!”

With a big inhale Archie finally stopped. He was staring down at the cutting board, his hands balled into fists. “Look at me.” He didn’t move. “Archie, look at me.” Archie shook his head.

Maxie grabbed his face and turned it towards himself. Archie kept his eyes closed. Which was fine, considering how nervous Maxie was. It was nice knowing that Archie was just as nervous, if not more.

This time Maxie leaned in for the kiss. He could feel Archie tense up for a moment. Maxie wrapped one arm around Archie’s neck and pulled him closer. Archie hesitantly put his hands on Maxie’s hips.

When they finally pulled away and made eye contact they sort of shuffled away, but didn’t let go of each other.

“So, uh…?”

“It was absolutely not cool to have kissed me when I was drunk like that,” Maxie stated.

“Oh.” Archie’s arms dropped away and he tried to dislodge himself from Maxie. But Maxie wasn’t having any of that.

“Our first kiss should have been after a brilliant date, like it’s supposed to be. It’s going to be quite difficult for you to make that up to me.”

That stopped Archie altogether, and he just stared at Maxie as his brain tried to process what just happened. Maxie smiled when Archie finally laughed. The tension was broken.

“Whatever you’re making for breakfast had better be amazing,” Maxie said as he headed towards the washroom.

“I’ll make you amazing breakfasts every day if you want,” Archie called back.

Maxie smiled as he closed the door behind him.

————

“Are you sure I look okay?” Archie asked for the twentieth time that minute.

“Archie, you look beautiful, stop asking,” Maxie said as he circled the two models. This was it, show time.

“You’ll do fine,” Courtney said, grabbing his hand.

Archie quickly glanced at Maxie, who was looking at their hands intertwined together before shaking it off and continuing his inspection. Archie wasn’t sure if Maxie was the jealous type or not, and now would not be a good time to figure it out.

“Uh,” Archie shook his hand out of Courtney’s grip. “Thanks.”

The announcer announced the next designer, and a stage manager came rushing towards them. “You’re on next. Ma’am, you’ll start on the other side of the stage.

“Okay,” Courtney said, but Maxie grabbed her before she could leave.

“Okay, this is over a year of work we’re showing off, so I want you two to really blow them away for me, okay?” He grabbed their hands and put them together, giving Archie a meaningful look. ‘It’s okay, go all out.’

“We won’t disappoint you,” Courtney said.

“Courtney!” Tabitha was frantically waving from the other side of the stage.

Maxie gave her hand one more squeeze before she ran off to join Tabitha. Maxie and Archie headed towards their side of the stage. “You’ll do great,” Maxie whispered.

“Thanks! This isn’t like my normal roles,” Archie admitted.

Maxie glanced around to make sure no one was near, then pulled Archie down for a quick kiss. “I know you’ll do great.”

“And next up is Maxie from Lavaridge!”

————

They were all sitting in the waiting room of Maxie’s studio, eating cake, drinking, and laughing. “Third place isn’t bad considering it was my first time,” Maxie pointed out.

“It’s absolutely unheard of!” Tabitha mocked one of the older ladies that had attended.

“Pffff, that lady’s never met Max before!” Archie said, throwing his arm around Maxie and leaning in. Maxie lightly pushed him off, glancing at the other two.

“Okay okay,” Tabitha said, noticing. Maxie had a mini panic attack as he ran through his history with Tabitha to try and find any moment that would tell him if Tabitha would be okay with this or not.

“Courtney and I had a bet,” he said, gesturing to a nodding Courtney and himself. “About whether or not you two would get together.”

Maxie felt his face heat up. Suddenly Archie’s arm (which he hadn’t been able to push off of his shoulders) made him feel claustrophobic. The room was spinning, and not just from the alcohol. Tabitha was one of Maxie’s only friends, if he didn’t -

“Who bet what?” Archie asked, leaning forward.

“I bet,” Courtney started, “that you two were going to end up together before the show.”

“There’s no way,” Tabitha stated. “Maxie’d drop hints ‘till the end of time and never go for it, and Archie’s not smart enough to pick up the hints - uh, no offence.”

“None taken!” Archie laughed. “I definitely didn’t pick up any hints, at least not consciously.”

“I didn’t drop hints! I don’t do that!” Maxie said in exasperation.

“So I was right?” Courtney asked.

“What do you get for winning?” Archie asked.

Tabitha sighed and pulled out his wallet. It took Maxie a moment to realize what was happening.

“You two are actually horrible,” Maxie joked.

“Well hey, now that they know, I can do this,” Archie said, and dived to rub his beard against Maxie’s neck. Maxie jumped back and tried to push him away through his laughter.

————

“Hey Max.”

“Hmmm?”

Archie sat on the corner of Maxie’s desk, which was, for once, pretty clean. “Whatcha doing?”

“Looking at this paperwork. Are we 100% sure we want to move here? Because once we do we’re stuck for a few years.”

“I’m sure if you are,” Archie said. “I’m happy wherever you are.”

Maxie laughed and rolled his eyes. “Cheesy.”

“And if we do move, I’ve already found you a commission,” Archie pointed out.

“Okay, you’ve got my interest. Continue,” Maxie said, sitting back and folding his arms.

“The Sootopolis theatre needs costumes for its next show, and I showed them some of the stuff you made. They’re really interested, and they pay well.”

“Well, you got me,” Maxie said. He signed the papers and passed the to Archie. “Mail these next time you go out?”

“Will do!” Archie said.

Later that night, when they were in bed and Archie was softly snoring with Maxie in his arms, Maxie opened his eyes and looked out at the moon through his window.

If only his family could see him now, he thought with bitter confidence. He was successful, he was well known, he was dating the most handsome man in all of Hoenn, and that man also happened to be an upcoming star.

Maxie’s life ended way better than he would have ever imagined all those years ago.


End file.
